Simpsons Fighting Irs Claim

December 18, 1998|BY JOSH MEYER Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — -- The Internal Revenue Service is seeking more than $6.5 million from the estate of Nicole Brown Simpson, a claim based on a $12 million civil judgment owed the estate by O.J. Simpson but never paid.

Louis H. Brown -- Nicole Brown Simpson's father and the administrator of the trust created to support her two children -- said on Wednesday he is appealing the IRS demand, which was made in September.

Brown said the estate petitioned the U.S. Tax Court in Washington, D.C., last week to intervene after failing to come to agreement with IRS officials. He declined to comment in detail about the dispute.

The estate's appeal -- filed on Dec. 7 -- said the IRS demand for the money is based on a civil judgment against O.J. Simpson that "might never be collected."

Brown said the IRS gave the estate 90 days to comply. But, he added, "There's been no money collected, and no basis for that lien. So we said, `IRS, you're nuts.'"

A jury last year held Simpson liable for the slaying of his former wife and ordered him to pay her estate $12 million in damages. Simpson was acquitted of murder in an earlier criminal trial.

IRS spokeswoman Laurie Kellerman said the agency is seeking to collect $6,546,253 from the Brown estate, but declined to comment further. "We can't confirm or deny anything," Kellerman said.

Timothy J. Kay, the attorney for the Brown estate, had no comment. Simpson and his attorney, Leroy Taft, also did not respond to questions about payment of the civil judgment.

In all, Simpson was ordered to pay $33.5 million to the estates and heirs of Nicole Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman, who was killed alongside her.

Nicole Simpson had about $768,000 in assets when she was fatally stabbed on the walkway outside her Brentwood townhouse in June 1994, according to the estate tax forms filed in the months after her death. Her father said on Wednesday that the estate already has paid "substantial" taxes on those assets.

The IRS contends that the $12 million civil jury award should be included among the taxable assets of the estate. The agency sent the estate a "notice of deficiency," saying it had 90 days to appeal. The tax rate on the jury award is 55 percent.